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Good Wednesday morning everyone! Many areas fell well below zero last night and along with the bitter temperatures, wind child advisories are in effect for much of the Dakotas until 10AM CST this morning. Current wind chills range from -15F to -30F so be sure to bundle up and limit outdoor exposure to avoid frost bite if you’re heading out with these dangerous wind chills.
Temperatures likely won’t get out of the single digits for areas that received new snowpack to begin the week, and most of the area won’t get out of the teens for high temperatures today.
Overall, today will be a nice day for most of the region, with mostly sunny skies and a break from the snow. However, as we head into the overnight hours, clouds will begin to increase and the next chance of accumulating snow will start to work into the area. Cannot rule out some light snow showers reaching the extreme southern portions of South Dakota and Minnesota by tomorrow morning. However, snow will build, intensify and push north especially in late Thursday afternoon and into the overnight hours for portions of Eastern South and North Dakota and Minnesota. Here’s a look at the simulated radar from tomorrow morning until noon on Friday.
Right now, we’re favoring the European model in terms of snowfall with 3-6″ possible in portions of Eastern South Dakota and 3-5″ throughout much of Central Minnesota.
Again, snow should exit the area by the early afternoon on Friday, and we’ll have a brief break before a more potent system looks to enter the area early Saturday and into Sunday. Models have been trending a bit stronger and further northwest with the weekend system. Here’s a look at the latest European model simulated radar for between 3AM Saturday and 6AM Sunday.
Note that the European is putting down a wide swath of 6-8″ with perhaps a narrower band of 8-12″ in spots. This is something to certainly keep an eye on and we’ll fine tune the forecast as we approach the event.
Overall, models are fairly similar for total snowfall accumulation for both snow events through the weekend. Some areas could certainly see hefty snowfall accumulation by late Sunday.
The next two weeks will be much below normal in terms of temperature and near normal precipitation trending towards slightly above normal especially in the Eastern Northern Plains by week 2.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out and have a great day!